I have survived not knowing the language and not being able to communicate in a few countries, like Hungary.

In Italy, few people spoke English but Italian looks a little like French or Spanish so I can read. I had an local Italian colleague who showed me around and gave me a crash course of 2 pages of phrases, which came in very handy.

In Malaysia, I was nearly deaf-mute but at least the alphabet is the same. You can stare at a map and make some sense of which way is north or south.

In Japan, there's enough Roman alphabet to find one's way around. Managed to get through the day being mostly mute.

Can one survive as a tourist in China travelling independently? How about sticking to the main cities, like Shanghai and venturing to Soochow/Suzhou?